Miss Sally Thompson School Building
Anderson, Grimes County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Miss Sally Thompson School Building, about 1840. Blue-back speller taught here. Fee: $3 a month. Now Allen Home. Recorded Historic Landmark, 1965
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Around 1840, in the days of the Republic of Texas, children learned their letters here from the famous 'blue-back speller' for a fee of three dollars a month. The modest schoolhouse, later known as the Allen Home, is a rare survivor from the earliest era of Texas education. It recalls a time when schooling was a private arrangement paid for by families, one lesson at a time.
Why it matters
This little building preserves the grassroots beginnings of education in frontier Texas, when learning depended on a teacher, a speller, and a family's few dollars rather than any public system.
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Related people
- · Sally Thompson
Themes & tags
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